Chiwetel Ejiofor plays an alien who comes to Earth hoping to save people on his home planet in the new Showtime series The Man Who Fell to Earth.
Attendees at SXSW this weekend saw the world premiere of Showtime’s new sci-fi series The Man Who Fell to Earth, in which Chiwetel Ejiofor plays an alien who comes to Earth in hopes of saving people on his home planet. The network followed up this premiere by releasing a recap of the first five minutes of the pilot episode.
As we previously reported, the new television series is based on Walter Tevis’ classic 1963 novel, which has already spawned a cult 1973 film adaptation starring rock star David Bowie as the titular alien. Designed and written by Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet, it started as a project for Hulu before moving to CBS All Access (which has since been taken over by Paramount+). Showtime will air the series in the US, while Paramount+ will air internationally. According to the official logline, The Man Who Fell to Earth will follow a new alien character (Ejiophor) who arrives on Earth at a turning point in human evolution and must confront his own past to determine our future.”
The TV adaptation introduces clear departures from the source material, starting with the character Ejiofor, an alien named Faraday. Bill Nighy plays Thomas Jerome Newton, a character played by Bowie. (He even wears a similar dashing hat.) Naomie Harris co-stars as Justin Falls, described as “a brilliant scientist and engineer who must beat his own demons in a race to save two worlds.” She has a young son who is related to Faraday. The cast also includes Westworld’s Jimmi Simpson as Spencer Clay; Rob Delaney as Hatch Flood Sonya Cassidy as Edie Flood; Joana Ribeiro as Lisa Dominguez; Annelle Olalei as Molly Falls; Josh Herdman as Terry; and Kate Mulgrew as Drew Finch.
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The official trailer was released last month and featured Faraday meeting Justin. The first five minutes show us Faraday, presumably much later than his time on Earth. He became a Steve Jobs-style tech billionaire thanks to (one might assume) patenting some of these cute alien technologies. (This is how Thomas amassed his fortune in the 1973 novel and film, hoping to use the funds to build spaceships to transport his people.)
Enlarge / Reptilian Alien Eyes!
YouTube/Showtime
The first five minutes are basically the equivalent of an Apple presentation, culminating in Faraday’s presentation of the mysterious black cube. Ejiofor delivers a flawless speech about adapting to survive, how to get out of a hole, and so on, which the audience seems to take as a metaphor. But these scenes are punctuated by flashbacks to Faraday’s fiery arrival, where he actually dons a new skin and climbs out of a deep hole. We even see a brief glimpse of yellow reptilian alien eyes peering out of the darkness.
The Man Who Fell to Earth will be released April 24, 2022 on Showtime in the US and Paramount+ worldwide. We’re curious to see how Kurtzman and Lumet reimagined this iconic piece of science fiction for the 21st century.
Image in YouTube/Showtime list